Will there be a reversal?

[Misstic]

To save businesses there is likely to be a return to work in offices and that means commuting for many people who did not commute before. I wonder whether some, if not many, of them will want to move back to areas closer to their workplaces.

[FurierTransform]

I think it's incredibly unlikely that will happen. Flexible working/WFH is the direction of progress, fueled by technology, & it's near impossible to reverse.

[Raifa]

Makes you wonder why you would employ British workers at all now. Might as well get developing nation PhD for half of the price.

[Pipandmum]

No. I think flexibility in terms of days in office and days working from home likely in many cases, and people would rather commute those days than live full time nearer work.

[eurochick]

Why do you think people will be commuting who were not before?

[JoJoSM2]

It’s much cheaper for businesses to have a smaller office with only part of their staff in at any time.

However, some people feel isolated wfh so I don’t think the shift to remote working will be as big as some might think.

[ShaunaTheSheep]

Sorry, I don’t understand your point - why would it mean people commuting who didn’t before?

[NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1]

Makes you wonder why you would employ British workers at all now. Might as well get developing nation PhD for half of the price.

Because if you employ indian workers instead of british workers there won't be any people in the UK employed and able to spend money buying the products and services that have been outsourced to india.

[Misstic]

Many people moving out of London would have been living in Central London or the environs. So they would have had to commute before or their commute would have been very short. Moving further out means longer journeys, packed trains, and sometimes no alternative route when things don’t work.

Despite an increase in WFH, I think many companies will require workers to be present at least 2 or more days in the office.

The government and businesses, particularly retail businesses are putting pressure on the government to reverse the message and trend of mass WFH.

WFH will increase but it will not replace face-to-face working and interaction with colleagues.

[JoJoSM2]

Yes, but going to the office 2-3 days a week instead of 5, means half the number of people on the trains.

I also think that vast majority of people moving out are the ones that didn’t necessarily want to be in zone 2 and Covid just spurred them on to move this year.

We moved from zone 2 to 5 several years and go DH finally stopped hating his commute. He always gets a window seat on his train vs struggling to even get onto the packed trains in zone 2. He always gets work done on the train vs the old commute being 100% unpleasant and a waste of time. There multiple alternative routes and we’re still close enough for him to cycle in some days too. So personally, I can’t see that many people desperate to move back in any time soon.

[Kaiserin]

The government and businesses, particularly retail businesses are putting pressure on the government to reverse the message and trend of mass WFH.

This makes no business sense.
Retail businesses and the government propaganda machine can wail all they want...
Why would a business which finds work-from-home profitable and convenient, change their mind, and increase their own costs, just because the government gently (... or firmly) asked them to?
Other businesses are not charities, they don't exist to finance the retail industry. And the government has very little power over the private sector. What are they gonna do? Make work from home illegal?